January Day Trip

Anna and I set out for a drive this morning.  Our first stop was at a restaurant for a nice breakfast together.  Then we headed out of the city to the northeast.  Anna was tired and napped for a while.  Margarit and I went to the movies last night, and then hit the pub after that for a bite to eat.  By the time we got home it was nearly 2:00AM.  Of course the girls were still up when we got home.  I slept like a log after all the activities of Saturday, but felt really well rested and refreshed as Anna and I headed out of town.  But Anna was tired and needed to nap for a bit... which was fine.  It was snowing when we left the house, but that quit by the time we finished breakfast.  The sun struggled to come out all day, and succeeded a few times.  There were moments when it was very dull and overcast and the light was as flat as the pancakes Anna had for breakfast.  But there were times when the clouds broke and light popped out as well.  The big issue on this day was the wind.  

On Saturday the temperature popped up to around +9C and it did not drop down below freezing over night.  Water was dripping and running everywhere on Saturday and the snow pack has settled way down... largely disappearing out in the open.  During the day Sunday the temperature dropped to a little below freezing, and all the puddles froze making for some slippery conditions.  There was a strong wind out of the northwest.  I don't know exactly what the wind speed was but it must have been gusting into the range of 35 to 45 kmh... or maybe higher.  It felt a LOT colder than it was, and setting up a large format view camera would have been a challenge.  

We passed through Elk Island National Park and in addition to the usual Bison, we also came across a small herd of the namesake Elk.  Later up in Lamont County we saw a couple of nice Bucks as well.  We kept our eyes peeled for owls but didn't see any this time.  Usually I spot a coyote or two on outings such as this but on this day there were none to be seen.

Anna and I used the day as an opportunity to scout around a little, to listen to some music, and to catch up on some conversation.  We stopped a number of times a long the way to take some snapshots, but the big camera never made it out of the truck.  I've recently been inspired by a book of color photographs that I purchased.  It is by a Calgary photographer named George Webber and documents old buildings and signs in small towns throughout Alberta.  I attended a presentation years ago at which George was a guest speaker and have always admired his work.  He previously did a couple of long term documentary projects on the Blood Reservation in southern Alberta and on a Hutterite Colony.  Anna and I passed through a number of small towns north of the city and scouted for some photographic subject matter, similar to what was in George's book.  I found a couple of things that I will go back and photograph under better conditions.

Busy Weekend

Even though I didn't go out to the cottage this weekend, it was really busy.  I got back to some old activities that have been somewhat on the backburner for a while, and it was a nice change.

On Friday evening I hosted the first meeting of 2019 for the Monochrome Guild.  We have a renewed enthusiasm and the membership of the group has grown.  We now have 16 members, and potentially one or two new ones to be added.  I was faced with the difficult challenge of asking a couple of former members and friends to step aside.  These two have not been active in analog photography and have shot very little, and done no darkroom work for quite some time.  We have had several new members come on board over the past year or two and they all seem really energized and enthusiastic.  We are becoming a lot more active and involved as a group and I am really encouraged.  But in the best interests of our group, and to keep the Guild to a manageable size, I had to ask a couple members to step aside.  They may return at some point if they become involved again, but that remains to be seen.  Some of our current members are new to film and the darkroom and it also remains to be seen if they demonstrate an ongoing commitment.  But gone are the days of only three or four members showing up for a meeting.  Long live film...!

On Saturday I went to my shop for a few hours in the morning.  In finished installing two drawers in the first section of kitchen cabinet, and starting finishing the two cabinet doors for the same section.  I also worked on two interior doors for the two bedrooms, and a coat hanger made from antique door knobs.  Shortly after lunch I had to head home to get read for a hockey game.

The Renegades played a rare afternoon game at Knights of Columbus Arena against a team called the Hungry Beavers.  We used to play these guys on a regular basis but in recent seasons have not been in the same division.  We were recently moved up to a higher division and find ourselves matched up against our old rivals again.  The game was heated and the battle level quite high.  It was pretty much all even in the first period.  We scored four quick goals in the second and jumped out to a significant lead.  They battled back a the end and made it close but we hung on for a 9-7 victory.  I was exhausted after the game after all the puck battles defending in front of our goal and in the corners.  It is certainly a challenge for an old guy like me to keep up to all these younger players, but I'll try to keep doing it for a little longer...

I have never been much of a fan of movies.  I don't mind a good one from the point of view of the entertainment value, its just that it is very rare for me to feel inclined to sit still long enough to watch one.  Margarit constantly gives me a hard time about it.  Our first two dates back in the late 1990's were to the movies, but in the past 20 years I don't think I've gone back.  Once we took the girls to see a kids movie but other than that I haven't set foot into the theatre in this millennium.  Back when I went to the last one I think it cost about five bucks.  Last night I agreed to go and see Bohemian Rhapsody with Margarit.  She had already seen it a couple times and was convinced that I would like it.  For those not familiar with it, it is the story of Freddie Mercury, lead vocalist for Queen.  I was exhausted enough from hockey that I knew sitting still wouldn't be a problem... I just hoped I could stay awake.  The film was excellent and I really enjoyed it.... no problems staying awake.

Today I went out for a day trip with my middle daughter Anna.  We went for breakfast and then hit the road.  We headed northeast of the city to Elk Island National Park and then beyond to some small towns.  The light was flat at times but there were moments when the sun popped out and it looked pretty spectacular.  The wind was an issue on this day and photography was not much of an option.  But we had a great drive together, listened to some music, and had a chance to talk.

Missing the Mountains

I haven't been out to my cottage for a couple of weeks now and I'm missing it.  I need to focus some time on building cabinets and doors here in the city, and I don't really have much to work on out at the cottage right now...  So unfortunately I have been staying home on weekends... and probably will continue to do so for the next little while.  That said I am making some progress on my millwork projects...!!  I build some coat hangers using antique door knobs.  That is now just about finished and almost ready to install.  I have the last two interior doors well underway.  I worked on the bodies of the kitchen cabinets over the holiday break.  I have the hardwood facing and two drawers installed on the first section, and am just about finished with the doors.  Once this is done I will move onto the next two sections.  There are three sections of lower cabinet that will be installed in a U-shape.  Once these are in then we can get counter tops installed as well as finish up our plumbing and put in the kitchen sink.  I still have two upper cupboards to build, but if it takes a while for me to get to these, it won't really matter.

Last time I was out there I took this snapshot out of our living window, looking south towards Eagle Peak.  It was about 6:00PM and the sun had just set.  There was a nice afterglow on the underside of the clouds and the colors really popped out for a couple of minutes.  Just found this shot while I was downloading some more recent stuff.....

Forgotten Dresses

I spent most of my evenings last week working on my print for the InFocus show.  One night I made an unsharp mask, needed for part of the printing process.  That was washed and dried and then the next night I made the print itself.  The following night I finished that print, which required a second fixing bath, a toning in selenium, a clearing bath and then an extended wash.  Later in the week when the wash was finished, and the print dried, I spent part of the weekend drymounting, matting and framing it.  It was finally ready last Sunday night and I delivered it on Monday.  In my rush I completely forgot to take a photograph of the finished print.  But I have a couple of extra copies that I made while I was at it, and have included a snap shot of one of those.......

InFocus 2019

Once again I am taking part in the annual InFocus exhibition here in Edmonton.  I think this is my fifth year now, and I'm grateful to Alexis Marie Chute, the curator for continuing to accept my work...!  The last couple of evenings have been spent in my darkroom printing the accepted image.  I need to have it framed and delivered by the weekend, and like everything in my life, I am right down to the wire on this...!!  I've attached the invitation so that anyone interested in checking it out, can stop by.  There is also a People's Choice award so check out this link and cast your ballots up to the first week of February.

https://www.infocusphoto.ca/peoples-choice/

Limber Pine at Whirlpool Point

This image was taken out in the Bighorn... the area west of my cottage, in the front ranges of the Rockies, that NEEDS a higher level of protection.  I took this shot when my friend Jon and I were out in the area back in November.  Hopefully this gets the point across... !!

This is a wonderful wilderness area that needs to be protected for future generations...

More News on the Bighorn

This editorial was published in the Edmonton Journal a few days ago.... I usually don't agree with columnist Elise Stolte as I find her viewpoint too left-leaning.  But in this case I completely agree with her assessment of the situation out in the Bighorn.  Mostly it has become political....  Some politicians don't want to come across as going against the ATV riders, the hunters, the fisherman, and other users of the outdoors... so they blame the current government for a lack of communication and consultation.  The reality is that this area needs to be protected and we need to put partisan politics aside.  There is no significant change as it is just a matter of increasing the level of protection for an area that is already protected... as columnist Stolte points out...

Elise Stolte: Cut the rhetoric. Bighorn Country 'bomb' is a minor change to what's already protected

ELISE STOLTE

Updated: January 10, 2019

Protesters take part in a rally opposing the province's planned changes to Bighorn Country in Drayton Valley on Monday, Jan 7, 2019.CATHY WEETMAN / POSTMEDIA

SHAREADJUSTCOMMENTPRINT

To hear Brazeau County Reeve Bart Guyon talk, Alberta’s Bighorn Country recreation plan is a twisted sales job about to send the provincial economy into a mud bog.

It’s a “Bighorn bomb” with “far reaching tentacles,” he said, preparing for an anti-park rally in Drayton Valley early this week.

Guyon argues the new land-use designation will create a new layer of red tape and freeze out new oil and gas investment. That it’s part of an American environmental conspiracy meant to shut down Alberta’s fossil fuel development in some of the richest areas of the province.

But seriously. This “bomb” isn’t much of an explosion at all.

Does anyone really think it took until 2018 for the province to realize it needs to protect the headwaters of the North Saskatchewan River? No. Albertans and their successive governments aren’t stupid.

These subalpine slopes act like a sponge, soaking up rainwater and slowly releasing it for farms and cities throughout the summer. That land tucked up against Jasper National Park, covering 3,700 square kilometres, has been protected from industrial development by the Eastern Slopes Policy since 1984.

So stand down from the rhetoric. And you green types, forget popping the bubblies. Premier Rachel Notley can celebrate this as the next Kananaskis County if she wants, but all this really does for that key conservation area is add some campsites and change a long-standing Progressive Conservative policy to legislation.

Yawn.

Now the Bighorn proposal is a bit more complicated than that. Because, in addition to this large, subalpine wildland provincial park, the Alberta government is proposing to eventually restrict some off-road vehicle use in a much larger area reaching from the mountains to Drayton Valley. That’s where now tens of thousands of off-road vehicle users camp and play on a long weekend.

But that’s not creating a park. It won’t affect industry.

There is no new regulatory body for this land. No extra application for oil and gas drilling, forestry, coal or gravel mines. And when a small part of this area — a specific wetland or area with fragile soil — is eventually proposed as a no-go zone for off-road vehicles, that only means no public access. Industry still has every right to travel.

There are three actual provincial parks — land with real restrictions on development meant to give Albertans easy-to-access camping before they set out into the backcountry. But that’s a tiny fraction of the whole Bighorn Country proposal, 149 square kilometres.

The issue blew up again this week after the governing NDP cancelled four open houses on the plan. Minister Shannon Phillips said businesses supporting the plan and open houses experienced harassment and intimidation. They’re proposing more telephone town halls instead.

Phillips and Notley first proposed the park and land use changes in November. There’s an online survey to gauge the public interest open now until Feb. 15.

Plan supports local volunteers

This could have been communicated better. What came off as a new idea from an NDP government is actually the result of a multi-year stakeholder consultation for land use planning in the whole North Saskatchewan watershed.

It’s also a natural next step to support local conservation efforts. In each of the three major zones (the Bighorn Wildland Provincial Park, Kiska-Willson Public Land Use Zone and West Country Public Land Use Zone), the same volunteer groups creating rules and maintaining trails today are expected to continue.

According to the top bureaucrats involved, these groups are the ones who will suggest the best new off-road trails and any future restrictions in the west country. They’re hikers, off-road vehicle campers and hunters themselves, local volunteers who want to continue to enjoy the wilds without destroying them. The new land-use designation simply gives conservation officers the authority to ticket scofflaws after those new rules are created.

Without the designation, enforcement in the west country is tough. People destroying the backcountry actually have to be taken to court.

Brazeau County Reeve Bart Guyon speaks at a rally opposing the province’s planned changes to Bighorn Country in Drayton Valley on Monday, January 7, 2019. CATHY WEETMAN / POSTMEDIA

‘Coax people to the table’

Back in Drayton Valley, Guyon is making some good points. He calls for a greater emphasis on collaboration, conservation programs that reward landowners who keep livestock and forestry back from the creek edges. “We need to coax people to the table, not drive them to the table,” he says.

Totally with you there, sir.

But it’s not either/or. We need to celebrate landowners who protect their creeks, recognize the many volunteers supporting intelligent recreation in the backcountry. We also need a legal framework so conservation officers can back up those volunteers, when necessary. We need in-stream monitoring to understand if any restrictions are necessary and effective.

If we cut the rhetoric from all sides and focus on facts, maybe we can do just that.

estolte@postmedia.com

twitter.com/estolte

Another Working Weekend

I just returned from another weekend up at the cottage in Nordegg.  Once again I was out by myself.  Mostly I worked on a bunch of small chores.  Changed a door latch, installed a door stop, hung some pictures, and installed a bunch of baseboards.  I now have all of the baseboards done, with the exception of the two main floor bedrooms.  I can't finish these until the interior doors and casings are in.  And I can't install those until I finish building the doors.....

When I arrived on Saturday morning I opened up most of the shutters and started the wood stove.  It wasn't long and the deer showed up.  Two does were standing out in the yard, looking at me through the window.  I went out to put some oats out for them.  They wandered off a short distance... but not very far.  They are pretty tame and used to me by now and probably stayed within about 30 feet.  Once the feeder was filled with oats, the deer had  heyday...!  Soon there were seven of them out there, all fighting over the oats.  The more aggressive ones were rising up on their hind legs and striking at the others with the front hooves.  They were all anterless, and I assumed that they were all does but my neighbor pointed out to me that the bucks start to shed their antlers at this time of year.  Its possible that at least a couple of them could have been bucks.

There is not much snow left out there.  In the bush, under the trees there is bare grass showing.  Out in the open there is a crust of hard old snow.  All my tracks from before Christmas are still there, somewhat melted, but not snowed over.  Any slope that faces south or west and gets a little sun is also bare.  Its still only mid-January so perhaps there is more snow to come.  But so far it has been a really mild winter.

Until I finish up some cabinets and doors I am kind of at a standstill with the cottage construction.  Not sure exactly when I'll head out there again but next time it may end up being for a relaxing, rather than a working weekend.

Whirlpool Point

Lots in the new recently about our Provincial Government trying to set up eight new parks in the Bighorn region.  This includes some Provincial Parks, some Recreation Areas and some Wilderness areas.  Currently this is all Crown land under limited protection.  People treat it like the wild west and head out there and do whatever they want.  Random camping, ATV riding anywhere and everywhere, lots of litter and garbage left around, and little respect shown for the land.

This area is just to the west of our property in Nordegg so I am very much in favor of seeing it better protected and some rules and limitations put into place.  The public is really up in arms about this but I think it is mostly the manner in which the government tried to push this through, with little to no consultation.  But it seems to me that it is mostly the rednecks that want to see it unregulated that take the biggest exception to the idea.  I am just about the biggest redneck in the world, but I would like to see this area protected and some rules in place.  I'm certainly no fan of our socialist NDP government and would never vote for them, but this is one of the very few good ideas they have put forward.  I really hope it gets put into effect despite all the resistance.

This image was taken last November when my friend Jon and I were staying out at the cottage.  We drove an hour west to an area that is currently the Kootenay Plains Ecological Reserve.  Currently this is just a narrow strip of land, a few hundred meters wide on either side of the David Thompson Highway.  The plan is to enlarge it and turn it in David Thompson Provincial Park with much tighter regulations and limitations to the use.  I hope the plan proceeds as the area is spectacular.

Renegades Hockey Team

We are now well into the 2018-2019 winter season of the Capital City Recreational Hockey League.  My team, the Renegades, has been doing really well.  We have been in 1st place in Division Nine for most of the regular season.  Recently the league did a re-alignment and moved a bunch of teams around.  After 17 games, of the 28 game regular season, we find ourselves moved up to Division Eight.  This is a little discouraging as now most of our first 17 games don't count in the standings.  The only two that do count are two games that we played against teams that previously got moved up and that we now find ourselves matched up against again.  Unfortunately those two games were a loss and an overtime loss, so we started 2019 in last place.

We played our first game in Division Eight on Saturday night.  This was an early ice time... 6:45PM at KofC Arena, against the Phantoms.  We played these guys once earlier in the year and they beat us 10-9 in regulation.  This time around it was a different story.  The game was tight and close and after the first period we had a 1-0 lead.  But we kept pouring it on and eventually beat them down.  We coasted to a 9-0 victory... the first shutout in years for the Renegades, and maybe the first ever.  I started the team about 15 years ago and through all those years of playing both summer and winter hockey, I can't recall a shutout....

Congratulations to our goaltender Steve...!!!

Hopefully he can continue to play well and carry us into to the playoffs.  This victory sees us move up from last place to the middle of the pack after just one game...

1936 Chevrolet

This shot is from a batch of Ilford FP4 film, in 4" x 5" format, that I processed a few weeks ago.  This particular image was taken out at Jack's place, in western Saskatchewan.  This was back in August  of 2018 when Chris, Connie, Rueben, Byron and I headed back out there to commemorate the short documentary film that we did out there the previous year.

Last Day of the Holiday Break

I lived out my day today much as I hope to spend my imminent retirement.  I slept in a little, and got up around 9:00AM.  Margarit and I drove Hailey to work for the start of her shift at Noon, at West Edmonton Mall.  Then we headed over to the hardware store and picked up a few supplies... mostly for the ongoing Nordegg construction project.  We stopped at the shop for a bit.  I got Margarit to give me a hand moving the three bodies of the kitchen cabinets around.  We set them together and checked some measurements, and then moved them aside for the start of the work routine next week.

I also had her give me a hand to slice up a couple of sheets of plywood that I will need to construct the drawers to go into these cabinets.

After that he headed over to the Antique Malls up near Whyte Avenue and bought a bunch of stuff....

An old wood plane to display on one of our shelves... another antique window for one of the interior doors... an old barometer... an old step ladder... a few other little trinkets... all odds and ends stuff that will be used mostly for decor out at Nordegg...

Later we picked up Hailey at the end of her shift and then headed home.  A relaxing day... a little expensive... but pretty enjoyable all the same...

Rob's Millwork Shop

Since returning from Nordegg on January 2nd, I've spent three full days at my shop working on kitchen cabinets for the cottage.  I want to get the bodies of the three lower sections all assembled and out of the way before the shop re-opens from the holiday break on January 7th.  These will be arranged in a U-shape to fit into the kitchen, at the cottage.

The phone rang maybe a dozen or so times each of the two weekdays at I was at the shop.  Seems we haven't missed much by closing down for an extended break.  The staff all appreciate the extra time off, as do I... and it saves the company some wage expense.  Everyone will return to work refreshed and ready on the 7th and we will be more productive for it.

I used some inexpensive birch plywood to build the bodies of these cabinets.  I used the same material previously to build the bathroom vanity and the pantry.  Turns out this stuff is made in China, and not very dimensionally stable.  It is all bowed and warped and difficult to build with.  Once everything is clamped, glued and nailed together I managed to pull everything fairly straight.  With this part of the project done I can now move on to putting the hickory on the exposed faces, and building all the drawers and doors.  I'm hoping that within a month or so this fabrication is complete and I can take these cupboards out to the cottage and install them.  

Then I will need to make a decision about what to use for counter tops, and to build the two upper cupboards.  If we can at least get the lower ones and the counter top installed fairly soon, then we can put in our kitchen sink.  That will make life so much easier as we will no longer have to do dishes in plastic wash tubs and transport water to and from the bathroom.

Ice Bubbles

On January 2nd we had breakfast at the cottage and then packed up all our stuff.  We made a shopping list of things that need to come out next time.  It was a beautiful sunny morning with the temperature well above freezing.  There was hardly a breeze.  After we cleaned out the cottage and packed up all our stuff I put some oats out for the deer, changed the video card in the game camera, and we got ready to go.  Margarit headed for home with Helena and Anna and their pets.  Hailey and I decided to take a drive up to Abraham Lake, hopeful that the wind wouldn't be too bad.

As we got close to the lake the wind intensity increased.  The temperature got up as high as +10C, but the wind was howling once again, particularly at Windy Point.  We continued further up the lake as far as Cline River.  I was hopeful that once we got around the corner, the moutains would break the wind a little.  They did, but it was still pretty intense.

We parked the truck and wandered out onto the ice.  There were lots of ice bubbles, and quite a few other people out enjoying the day.  One group even brought skates and hockey sticks and went out onto the bare ice of the lake.  I dug out my 4x5 view camera and tried to take a shot of the ice bubbles.  I wanted to start my year of a photography on a positive note and improve on my poor performance in 2018.  I set the tripod down low and used a slightly wide lens to try and capture the ice bubbles.  At one point a gust of wind upset my tripod, but fortunately it blew the camera against me and I caught it, avoiding any damage. 

After finishing up the photography Hailey and I headed back to the cottage.  We picked up her rabbit, Joey, locked things up securely, and hit the road for home.  We made a stop in Rocky Mountain House for fuel and a late lunch.  At 2:00 in the afternoon the sun was shining brightly and the temperature peaked at +12C...!

We arrived back in the city at around 5:00... just after dark.  A pleasant but uneventful drive back home.  After unpacking we settled down for the evening and didn't do much of anything.... tired from the past several days out in the mountains.  A very enjoyable holiday break to say the least...!

Monochrome Guild at Remedy Cafe

The Monochrome Guild has a small selection of prints showing at Remedy Cafe for the month of January.  The Cafe is located at 8631 - 109 Street in Edmonton.  The work is on display in the sitting area upstairs.  I met at the cafe with a number of the Guild members last night and we put up a the prints.  

While I was away in Nordegg the prints that we had on display at Cafe Blackbird came down.  This is a different selection of work and we hope to keep finding venues such as this that allow us promote our group.  At some point during the month we will likely have some of the members in attendance for a casual opening.  More on that to follow...

Happy New Year

We celebrated New Year's Eve out at Nordegg for the first time.  Usually we stay home and attend the fireworks show at our local community hall.  This year we did the same thing, but at our second home out in Nordegg.

The festivities started down in town at the community hall with a big bonfire being lit at 2:00 in the afternoon.  There was a potluck dinner as well.  I headed into town at about 3:30 to join in the shinny hockey game at the outside rink.  The girls headed down separately, a little later on.  I was on the ice for two hours straight.  It started out pretty low key with a lot of little kids out for a skate.  Later the little kids stepped aside and a bunch of older kids started to play, a little more seriously.  The boards were kind of rustic, and the lights limited, but it was a lot of fun.  The temperature dipped down to about -11 that evening but I certainly wasn't cold as long as I was skating around.

Several of our neighbors were around and most of them came down to town for the festivities as well.  Anna's best friend Raquel was out with her family and the two girls went tobogganing on the small hill by the hall, along with Hailey and Helena.  At 7:00 the fireworks show started and it must have lasted for at least 15 minutes.  I thought it was pretty impressive for a community as small as Nordegg.

Unfortunately we didn't have anything to contribute to the pot luck, so we didn't feel right taking part in it, even though there was lots of food.  After the fireworks we headed back up to the cottage and had a late dinner of pasta and sauce.  Margarit and I went to bed well before midnight and missed out on the end of 2018.  I was pretty tired from all the fresh air and skating for as long as I did.  The girls stayed up much later and must have still been awake when 2019 arrived.

I worked too much in 2018 and didn't take enough time off.  A lot of it was working on the cottage, which was by choice.  I don't really consider that work because I enjoy it a lot, and its not nearly as stressful as my day job.  But it took a lot of time away from other things... like camping, and photography, and fishing, and so many other things that I enjoy.  With the cottage nearly finished now I'm sure that 2019 will be a lot different.  I put in at least a 10 hour work day all year long, and took no holidays, other than a few days out working at the cottage.  I felt pretty drained as the year wound down and was happy to close my shop and take two weeks off over the Christmas break.  I am also taking steps to retire and will not be working full time beyond 2020.

Holiday Break

I just returned from Six days and Five nights spent up at our cottage in Nordegg.  The weather was quite mild and we only saw a little fresh snow.  A very enjoyable break to say the least...!

We had two Christmas dinners with family, once at my Mom's place and once at ours.  Hailey had to work on Boxing Day, and I spent a couple of days at the shop working on kitchen cabinets and loading up some materials.

Anna and I headed out to Nordegg on December 28th with her two pet rabbits.  The other girls would come out with the rest of the menagerie the next day.  We stopped at the feed store in Leduc to pick up some oats and then continued on to the cottage.  It was late afternoon when we arrived and we got things unpacked and got a fire going.

The next morning it was sunny and clear with only a light breeze.  As we were not expecting the others until late in the day, Anna and I decided to take a drive up to Abraham Lake.  We were hopeful that the wind wouldn't be too bad and that the lake would be frozen over so that we could check out the ice bubbles.

The lake was indeed frozen, but the wind was howling... like usual.  It was impossible to consider taking any photographs at Windy Point so we continued on to the elbow of the lake, across from Mt. Michener.  The wind was a little lighter here, but it was still gale force so photography with a 4x5 view camera was out of the question.  We wandered down to the lake shore and explored a little, taking a few digital snapshots.  There was some open water near shore at this location so we didn't try to walk out onto the ice.  I imagine that the usual ice bubbles were present, but we didn't see them this time.

Later in the afternoon we headed back over to the cottage.  Late in the day the other girls arrived with one more rabbit, two skinny pigs, and the dogs.  They said the drive out was slow going as the roads were in poor condition.  That surprised me a little as they were snow freeze and the drive was good for Anna and I when we came out 24 hours earlier.

We settled down for the evening, made a big batch of homemade pizza, and looked forward to relaxing for a few days.  I had a few odds jobs to look after, was wasn't planning on doing a lot of work on the this trip.  I had the bases for the kitchen cabinets to install, as well as some door trim.  Other than that I was pretty lazy and didn't do much of anything.....